The Barometer Online

Issue date: 4/16/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jeff Wick Oregon State closer Kevin Rhoderick has made a serious impact as a freshman. Following the new

When you think of dominant pitchers, the first thing that comes to most people's minds is a starting pitcher, and for good reason. They throw more innings, get the most wins, more strikeouts, and so on. In a stat-oriented game, they fill up the board, plain and simple. But then comes the question: What good is a starting pitcher if there is nobody there to finish the job?

At Oregon State the Beavers have had an outstanding group of starters in recent years - Jonah Nickerson, Dallas Buck, Daniel Turpen, Mike Stutes and so on. And for each starting pitcher there has also been one constant, an outstanding closer to send these pitchers home with a win.

First there was Kevin Gunderson. The all-time leader in saves at Oregon State with 37 and one of the biggest athletic heroes in school history for his incredible performance during the 2006 run to the Beavers' first national championship.

Last year there was Eddie Kunz. As the setup man for Gunderson in previous years, Kunz was a hard-throwing right-hander who pretty much sealed the deal whenever called upon. If the Beavers got to a point where Kunz was in the game, there was an excellent chance it would lead to a win.

As good as those two were, the best might be just getting warmed up. Ladies and gentlemen, if you haven't heard the name Kevin Rhoderick before, you will soon hear it ad nauseam - although the only thing sickening or disgusting about him is the way he treats opposing batters.

The freshman from Scottsdale, Ariz., has been untouchable so far this season. Headed into Tuesday's game, in 11 appearances, "K-Rhod" has allowed a meager three hits and has 21 strikeouts and six saves in 16 innings pitched. His ERA is 0.56 and opponents are batting a putrid .063 against him. To put it simply, he is dominating like no other before him.

"Right now I wouldn't want to get into the box against him," infielder Joey Wong said. "He's throwing that fastball pretty hard, and his slider is devastating. He's not a guy you want to face if you are the other team."

Rhoderick does indeed throw hard. His fastball is generally in the low to mid-90s and the aforementioned devastating slider regularly hits the high 80s - a tough task for any opposing batter to deal with and something that Rhoderick prides himself on.

Continued...

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